Trump Administration Will Ask Military to Shelter Up to 5,000 Migrant Children
Federal officials intend to ask the Pentagon for help sheltering up to 5,000 migrant children crossing the U.S. southern border without a parent, marking a significant expansion of the Defense Department’s role in the Trump Administration’s hardline policy toward undocumented immigrants.
The request is expected to come not long after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released new data showing that unauthorized crossings, especially of family units, along the Mexico border had surged to record levels in recent months. Last month, roughly 6,500 unaccompanied minors crossed the U.S.-Mexico border — a nearly 120% increase over February 2018.
“Our capacity is already severely strained, but these increases will overwhelm the system entirely,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a House committee on Wednesday. “This is not a manufactured crisis. This is truly an emergency.” The agency expects even more unaccompanied minors to arrive in coming months, reflecting historical patterns in which migration increases during the summer.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal agency responsible for migrant children until they can be given to an adult relative, currently holds about 11,500 migrant toddlers, children and teens at U.S. government detention and processing centers across the country. A child’s average length of stay under the agency’s custody was 89 days during the first four months fiscal 2019, compared to 60 days in fiscal year 2018.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-administration-will-ask-military-to-shelter-up-to-5000-migrant-children/ar-BBUsIfN?li=BBnb7Kz
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